Chinese word

巧合

Pronunciation

Pinyinqiǎo hé

Meaning

  • nouncoincidence

Example

我们遇见她纯属巧合。wǒ men yù jiàn tā chún shú qiǎo hé

It was purely a coincidence that we met her.

Illustration for 巧合 (coincidence)

More examples

两位证人的说法完全一致，这可能并非巧合。liǎng wèi zhèng rén de shuō fǎ wán quán yí zhì zhè kě néng bìng fēi qiǎo hé

The two witnesses' statements are exactly the same, so this may not be a coincidence.

Core concept

Separate events happen to line up without any necessary connection between them.

Common phrases

  • 发生巧合fā shēng qiǎo hé

    a coincidence happens

  • 纯属巧合chún shú qiǎo hé

    be purely coincidental

Similar words

偶然ǒu rán: An event or situation that happens without being planned or predicted.

Definition in Chinese

指在时间、地点或情况上没有必然联系却恰好相符的偶然情形。zhǐ zài shí jiān dì diǎn huò qíng kuàng shàng méi yǒu bì rán lián xì què qià hǎo xiāng fú de ǒu rán qíng xíng

Word origin

巧合 (qiǎohé, "coincidence") combines 巧 (qiǎo, "skillful") with 合 (hé, "fit together"), creating the image of unrelated events fitting together neatly by chance.

Usage tips

  • For a short spoken reaction, 真是巧合 (zhēn shì qiǎohé, "what a coincidence") works as a noun phrase, while 碰巧 (pèngqiǎo, "by chance") describes how an action happens.

Opposites

  • 必然性bì rán xìnginevitabilitynoun

Related words

  • 巧合性qiǎo hé xìngcoincidental naturenoun

Word lists with this word